Three Point Five
by Schubert
Summary: IT based alternate ending.
1. Prologue

**Prologue.**

"_The paths are open. But you have to choose."_

_And Shepard, with great regret, knew exactly what he had to do. What should have been the galaxy's greatest victory had been cruelly snatched away and substituted with the bitterest bitter-sweet pill any creature was ever going to have to swallow, ever. The Crucible, Salvation of the galaxy. There was a laugh! The ultimate superweapon that was going to do all the dirty work, blow the Reapers back to whatever dark hellhole they crawled from, while the galaxy celebrated. Yeah, right. But not without consequences, whatever path he chose._

_Exhausted, racked with pain and his spirit crushed, Shepard limped off pistol in hand on his final, woefully short adventure. The war would soon be over, but he felt little satisfaction from that. All he could think about as he struggled along in his broken, burned away armour was the dead, heroes villains and bystanders, from this miserable conflict. There was Nihlus, who's brutal execution had stung Shepard, dead. His killer Saren, pawn of the Reapers, was dead. Another Reaper puppet The Illusive Man, for better or worse, Shepard couldn't decide which right now, dead. By Shepard's own hand, albeit indirectly, his friend Anderson was dead. Yet more friends, Kaidan Alenko, Mordin Solus, Thane Krios, Legion, dead. The countless anonymous Batarians he had been forced to wipe out as a delay tactic, (and who weighed on his conscience every hour of every day), were all prematurely and permanently dead. And in a few seconds Shepard, for the second and probably final time in his life, would be dead._

_But so would the Reapers, and wasn't that the ultimate goal of this prolonged, soul destroying fight? Wasn't that the joyous outcome that this painful, terrible journey was leading up to all along?  
Of course.  
But he couldn't help feeling troubled. __The culmination of the battle for the galaxy, currently in full horrific flow outside, seemingly all boiled down to: "Pick a card, any card". It was like being knowingly duped by some third rate confidence trickster in the depths of Omega. The ultimate in all or nothing, high stakes, no-win situations. None of the options offered promised the conclusion he'd envisaged all these years, and that hurt._

_Something felt off about the whole scenario. It seemed farcical, unfair and wrong. All that hard work, effort and sacrifice. The blood, sweat and tears that went into building the Crucible. And for what? For this...cryptic game of chance? Shepard couldn't fathom it, and he couldn't be bothered trying to anymore. He'd had enough. He just wanted all this to be over, and if that meant him dying again in the process, well, he'd been prepared for that since his resurrection._

_As he stumbled painfully along, turning right onto a ramp, out of nowhere a line from an old song inexplicably played in his head:  
_"_I am tired, I am weary,  
I could sleep for a thousand years."  
Apt, he thought, as he ascended the ramp, gazing blankly at the war outside._

_He felt equal parts despondent and angry that HIS choice would mean a death sentence for Edi, the whole Geth race, and how many other sentients? He was about to condemn them all for the "crime" of being enhanced organics or for just being synthetic, with no chance of an appeal. But, to him, the other options seemed too far-fetched, too ludicrous to even contemplate. Damn it! Damn this charade! Pick the lesser of 3 evils and, for the cruellest twist, put the responsibility for the final selection on the conscience of one mortal, soon-to-be-dead man. Make sure you choose correctly now!...tick...tock...tick...tock...  
Shepard would never know if he had._

_Turning left now at the ramp's apex, almost doubled over with the effort, and here it was. The conclusion of it all. The red power conduit. Inconspicuous and insignificant. Without a pause Shepard continued onwards through his own agony, and 20 feet away from it he aimed his pistol and started firing._

_And things happened._

_To his left side he sensed that the wretched creature responsible for this "solution" had materialized and was watching him. Shepard somehow got the impression it was angry at something. As fast as the feeling appeared, it then vanished. Gone.  
The almost unendurable pain he had felt since waking from the laser blast was purged from his body in a blink.  
His willpower, confidence and strength surged back into him and was amplified. He felt he could easily take on an army of elite Krogan veterans. And win.  
He had no fear. Of anything, mortal or otherwise.  
And he knew he had made the right choice. For the moment he didn't know what that meant, but it was enough for him just to know it was "right". His spirit soared. He still sensed his own death was imminent, that didn't concern him. The difference was that he was now convinced the stakes had changed, and just maybe..._

_So now, instead of limping, he strode towards the conduit like an unstoppable giant, gun arm outstretched before him, pumping round after round into the damn thing that hit with satisfyingly damaging clangs and caused it to spit fire and sparks in retaliation.  
_"_Shoot the red power conduit...? Doesn't even make sense." he thought, almost cracking a smile.  
As he advanced purposefully into the unknown, random friends and thoughts jumped in and out of his head. He welcomed them as personal closure, even though the intended recipients would never hear his final message to them.  
BANG!  
_"_Anderson. David, my good friend, I'm so sorry we won't be around to see these bastards finally drop."  
...BANG!...BANG!...BANG!  
_"_Edi. If I'm wrong, will you ever have the opportunity to try to understand the choice I made? Forgive me."  
...BANG!...BANG!...BANG!  
_"_Liara. From the day I first found you, trapped and vulnerable, in that energy field on Therum I made myself this promise: That I would protect you with my life. I hope I haven't failed you. Be safe my friend. Please."  
...BANG!...BANG!  
_"_Jack...my tortured, troubled, psychotic soulmate...__may you one day find the peace you deserve_ _."  
...BANG!...  
His mind screamed: "THIS MAKES NO SENSE!"  
...BANG!...BANG!  
And the conduit finally responded with an almighty BOOM! spraying accelerated chunks of red hot metal and hellish orange flames into the hero of the galaxy, Commander Aristotle Shepard, killing him instantly._


	2. Chapter 1

**1.**

Except that Shepard awoke with a startled gasp in a pile of concrete rubble. Reborn. Again. This was getting to be a habit. Groggy and disoriented, he levered himself up on a protruding iron bar and stared in disbelief at the battle still raging on the ground and in the air. He was back in London and the scenes of carnage played out before him like a silent movie as a dull buzzing hum impaired his hearing. He felt his grip on reality slipping.  
"What...is happening to me?" He was sure the words came out, he just couldn't hear them.

Harbinger, his current nemesis, hadn't left at all. Shepard viewed Hammer unit soldiers and Makos still heading for the beam and being annihilated by it's laser, while the occasional burning wreck of an airborne unit dropped from the night sky. Shepard was shielded, fortunately, from Harbinger by one of the unusual towering structures that seemed to have sprung up from the ground around the beam. He had no idea how he had got there, but 40 feet out he could see the last Mako that had flipped and nearly flattened him, so he could deduce the general area he had been in when the laser should have killed him. Strangely, unlike the other "hit" locations, there was no telltale blackened gash in the ground where the beam should have carved one.  
His brain felt painfully tight against his skull, and he tore off his helmet in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

_Helmet...?_

He carefully cupped his head in his armoured hands, tried as best he could to massage away the pain in his temples. More surprises, he looked down at himself and noticed his battered, but (mainly) intact, full set of armour. Weird. What was going on? Had the last 30 minutes been a dream? If so, it had been an intensely vivid and believable one.  
Or was he actually dead now, this nightmarish hallucination the result of his brain dying as it was starved of oxygen, his senses and organs slowly shutting down?  
No.  
There would be no slow lingering death from that explosion. Plus, he'd been dead before and this was nothing like what little he remembered of the final moments of that experience. This was...tangible. Real.  
Assuming himself to be very much alive he shook his head violently a few times, trying to rattle his brain into fitting inside his head better, and his hearing was suddenly restored. It was as if the volume of life had been turned up full blast and it temporarily shocked him.

A Hammer unit soldier cautiously stuck his head out from behind the upended Mako, looked over towards him and removed his helmet.  
"SHEPARD!"  
He came zig-zagging across the short distance at full pelt and threw himself down in the rubble pile, breathless. Shepard noticed he only carried a pistol. He also looked vaguely familiar. The pair spoke loudly at each other over the explosions, engines, screams and frequent 'ZZZ-_CHOINK_!' of Harbinger's laser.  
"You OK Sir? That was way too close!" Fear and bravado were the 2 emotions fighting for supremacy of the soldier. Bravado seemed to be winning the battle, but only just.  
"Soldier", said Shepard, wincing as the pain in his head slowly receded, "what the hell just happened?"  
"I got bounced on my ass from that Mako flipping over right in front of me, almost got you too. Dropped my damn rifle. Then I saw that bastard's laser going straight for you. Couldn't think of anything else to do, so I hit you with a concussive round from my pistol, blew you out of its path. Without injuring you I hope, Sir."  
The Commander nodded painfully, flexed his arms and stomped his armoured boots a few times.  
"Tore up my armour some and gave me strange dreams. Head hurts like crazy but I think I'm OK...explains how I got all the way over here anyhow. Some distance! That was quick thinking, thanks...", Shepard glanced at the soldier's nametag,  
"...Corporal Fredricks."

(Off to the side, another charging Mako took a direct hit from the laser, flipped 3 times before sliding to a halt on it's roof and exploding.)

"No problem Sir. They rushed us through rank 1 training before shipping us out." He activated the pistol's magnet and secured it to his leg armour with a _clack!_ "They never told us dreams were a side effect though." He looked at Shepard expectantly, "You don't remember me do you Sir? Citadel..? Must be 3 years ago now?"  
Shepard stared at him with one eye, the other shut tight in migraine hell. Damnit he looked familiar, but...  
"Can we do the reunion thing another time, soldier?", he gestured around, "...kind of a war going on here."  
Partly relieved Shepard didn't recognize him Fredricks forced a grin, shook his head in mortification at the memory of their meeting when he had been a fresh faced, loud mouthed, rookie Private.  
"How long was I out?" Shepard asked.  
"Out?" The soldier looked confused, but continued. "Uh, dunno Sir...a few seconds, maybe. I hit you with that shot, tried to recover my rifle from under that Mako, then ran over here when I saw you moving."

(The laser fired again, and 3 soldiers advancing too close together on the run in were vaporized.)

"A few seconds? No, that's not possible soldier!" Shepard suddenly noticed that the pain in his head had now vanished completely.  
"Unless_..._"  
Shepard went pale. He knew then that the concussive shot wasn't responsible for his dream, and a thought he hadn't ever wanted to think was now surfacing ominously in his mind. A wave of dread descended down him like a black waterfall as the realization dawned. He whispered it:  
"_Indoctrination._"  
At that very moment Harbinger blasted out a 5 second concerto of it's terrible thousand decibel snarl, with enough bass to make the ground vibrate and cause the Corporal to instinctively bring his hands up to his ears and duck lower. The frequency was low enough to cause the diamond fillings in his teeth to oscillate irritatingly.  
For a split second after, an eerie silence seemed to fall across London before the roar of carnage resumed. Fredricks lowered his hands.  
"I'll never get used to that sound..." he said, adding, "...scares the crap out of me." Nothing from Shepard. He looked to see the Commander sitting with his back against the tower, staring into the distance blank eyed and shaking his head. His pistol was suddenly in his hand, one finger tap-tap-tapping the trigger guard.

(2 short bursts in quick succession from the laser easily put paid to another Mako and it's occupants.)

"Sir?"  
The tapping stopped. Shepard turned to Fredricks. His voice despondent, all he said was,  
"They got me."  
The Corporal didn't understand. Frowning at the pistol, but somehow feeling no threat from it, he asked,  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Indoctrination soldier. They got me. Never thought it would happen, never even saw it coming. But they got me. I...I can't be trusted. Not now. Seen it all before."  
In Fredricks' personal mental battle fear now had the upper hand. He felt his scalp try to crawl off his head as he worried about Shepard's intentions, being familiar with the _true_ account of the battle for the Citadel and the fate of the indoctrinated Saren...  
"Sir, you seem...just fine to me. Tell me...uh...what you're thinking. Speak to me."

(Floundering badly for something to say, his thoughts in turmoil, he bizarrely recalled the reason for not attending an optional 2 day course in hostage/suicide negotiations during advanced training: A booze fuelled night at an Asari stripjoint. "Got too drunk to even get laid." he thought, before almost having to punch himself back to the situation at hand.)

Shepard raised his eyebrows and waved the pistol vaguely as he answered.  
"Just now. The beam. The Citadel. Forcing me to choose how this ends. No choice at all really."  
It was disturbing for Fredricks to see him like this.  
"But Shepard you've been here the whole time, you've been in my sight since the run in." A thought occurred to him. "Concussive rounds pack a hell of a punch Sir, maybe you're still a bit dazed. Confused. You said you had a dream."  
"Dream?" Shepard thought a short while then stood up. "My dream. Corporal...in my dream I chose to destroy them. Do you understand, I chose to destroy them and it broke their hold on me. They tried to indoctrinate me and failed. _Because I chose to destroy them!_"  
Fredricks was doing his best to keep eye contact with Shepard and not look at the gun. Trying his best to not look threatening, he slowly held both palms up.  
"That's good Sir, keep talking. You beat them. Now, let's put the pistol down and think about this, yes?" His hands made a couple of slight, slow downward movements for emphasis.  
Shepard brought his hand up and stared at the gun in it bemused. He lowered it again.  
"Why would they put that option there? To destroy them?" He was now looking at the ground thinking out loud."_They_ wouldn't have given me that option, why was it there?"

Fredricks finally snapped. Acting out of fear for the Commander and momentarily disregarding rank, the Corporal snatched the gun from Shepard, threw it to the floor and grabbed him by the shoulder guards. Calmly but with an imperceptible shake in his voice, he said,  
"Sir, if I thought for one second you were indoctrinated I'd have already put a bullet through your skull and we wouldn't be having this chat right now. And I'd have hated myself for doing it. But you beat them Shepard, _you beat them! _But now I need you to get a hold of yourself."  
He pointed at the run in.  
"We're getting murdered out there and we can't stay here. Now, please, snap out of it and tell me...what is the plan?"  
It worked. Fredricks witnessed the colour flow back into his face and a spark of life return to his eyes. Shepard blinked a few times, then suddenly grabbed Fredricks' wrists.  
"Plan? I have to get into that beam again."  
He lifted the Corporal's hands off his shoulders and released his grip, stooped to retrieve his gun and, flipping on the magnet, secured it once again to his thigh armour.  
Fredricks exhaled audibly with relief, almost bursting into either laughter or tears as a massive invisible weight was lifted off him.  
"Again? Wanna rephrase that Sir?"  
Shepard realised, paused. Gave a half smile.

(Something unseen blew up on the run-in and there was a solitary moment of silence punctuated by a long, strangely isolated blood curdling scream.)

"...I have to get into that beam. Problem is, if I'm not mistaken..."  
He slowly looked around the side of the protecting structure, could see the beam not 30 feet away. And Harbinger, colossal and menacing, behind it. Looking up, Shepard was sure he saw something in the multiple dirty-yellow eyes move to focus on him, and as if to confirm it the huge laser chamber began to glow red. Shepard snapped his head back just in time as a thick column of devastating crimson light hit the floor, chewing up the ground and leaving a smoking wound.  
"...Yep. I think I'm now top of his shitlist." He turned back to Fredricks,  
"I'm gonna need that thing distracted." he said, jerking a thumb in the general direction of Harbinger as a burning airborne unit crash landed spectacularly onto a rolling Mako on the run in.

"I'm on it, Shepard." It was Anderson. From the extreme left side of the run in the Admiral appeared, scrabbling towards them across the debris, and started barking into his comset. He looked beaten up. But he sounded like the true leader he was. Shepard and the Corporal both helped the old man up the rubble pile, safe for now behind the tower, as he issued orders.

"This is Anderson, first off I want all Hammer unit ground forces to take a breather. Get yourselves organized into small groups and take the left flank to the beam. One group to advance every four minutes, keep as far left of the run in as possible and use the debris as cover. Take it slow and keep your heads down. Try to keep these..." (he thumped the structure with his fist) "...tower...things between you and the Reaper and converge at the base, you'll meet us there. That's how I got here and I'm probably 3 times your age. Second, I need air support _now! _I want every available fighter to attack the Reaper at the beam. Coordinate people, attack from behind, double file, hit and run, repeat, hit and run. Keep it's back as your target. I am _not_ prepared to lose any more troops to these things, die and you'll have _me_ to answer to. Out."

For a second Shepard stared at him as though he were a ghost. Then,  
"_Anderson!_", and he grabbed his friend in a bear hug.  
The Admiral, temporarily surprised and a little embarrassed, looked sheepishly at Fredricks who shook his head and shrugged, resisting the urge to twirl a forefinger round at his temple.  
"Good to see you too, Shepard. Now what say you put me down and we flush these demons down the nearest crapper?" Unashamed and unsurprised at his own outpouring of emotion, Shepard released him and said, grittedly:  
"Single best suggestion I've heard in 3 years Sir."  
He held his hand up and Anderson grasped it, locking thumbs. Shepard looked at Fredricks, nodded at the clasped hands as an invite. The Corporal felt buoyed by their show of brash confidence and he grinned maniacally, grabbed their hands with both of his and said,  
"I wouldn't trade this for a night with Sha'ira!"

"HOOYAH!"


	3. Chapter 2

**2.**

_A barren, desolate landscape viewed from 300 feet up. The whole planet would soon look like this. Purged. Before long all evidence would be removed by drones, eradicated up to a point. Time and erosion would take care of the rest. There would be no confirmation of the civilization that had built this place. The non-sentient life forms that remained would evolve and some would achieve self awareness. In several cycles one would become the dominant species, and one day this would all be rebuilt. The architects would be oblivious to any previous signs of sentient life. And in time, on another day, it would once again look as it did now._

_Harbinger surveyed the scene before it indifferently with two of its six independent compound eyes. Another two eyes were each scanning different areas of the sky for airborne threats. The final two were zoomed on the beam and one of the towers. The tower where it sensed it's greatest threat lurked along with at least two others.  
Each eye was equipped with multiple optical filters and ranged directional beams that covered and surpassed the known electromagnetic spectrum from long radio waves down to mild gamma rays and beyond. It had cycled every combination of filter and beam numerous times, but for reasons unknown none of it's enhanced vision modes could penetrate through the towering structures._

_The one called Shepard would have been a useful asset, looked up to and trusted by it's species. But something had gone wrong with the indoctrination attempt at the final stage. A glitch. No matter, now it was doomed to follow the rest of it's kind into extinction._

_It couldn't justify moving just yet. Preventing anything from entering the beam was priority and although it had not recently observed any life forms attempting to run for the beam, it couldn't risk one of the hiders behind the tower slipping through. All Reapers in the vicinity were occupied with their own battles and currently unable to assist._

_Something would have to be done._

At the base of the tower Shepard was pacing when a deep snarl and 2 rasping snorts from Harbinger boomed across the battlefield. A slight feeling of melancholy overcame him at the sound but quickly passed.  
"Yeah, you too!" roared Shepard.  
Fredricks, tinkering with an assault rifle he had found, surreptitiously watched him for signs of a relapse. He was reassured to see there were none. Harbinger's laser had fired considerably less frequently since Anderson ordered Hammer to take five. Shepard spoke,  
"Sir, the Crucible. Any word on what this thing is gonna do yet? Or how it works?"  
"Negative. We've got every egghead and engineer from every race poring over the blueprints in round the clock shifts as we speak. Some kind of exotic beam weapon is all they can conjecture. There's some pretty out-there technology at work. But we still can't even figure out how to activate the damn thing. Hell, we don't even know if it's complete." His tone became grave. "Shepard, if we lose this war because of a missing 'FIRE' button..." His voice trailed off and there was a long pause.  
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out." Shepard wasn't trying to lift Anderson with false optimism. He genuinely meant it.

Anderson smiled.  
Shepard lowered his voice.  
"Do we know where Hackett is right now?"  
Anderson looked round conspiratorially, saw Fredricks still engrossed with the rifle. He replied in a hushed tone.  
"Came under intense fire and had to jump to safety. His and a few other ships are hiding the Crucible behind Pallas in the asteroid belt. They can assemble an escort and be at the Citadel in no time once the arms are opened. Cloaking shields on the Crucible seem to be doing their job well. Rest of Sword and Shield are on distraction duty, keeping Reapers from sniffing around there, taking a potshot and running if they can get away with it."  
"Sounds risky. If a Reaper agent were to get access to that knowledge..."  
"Only a handful of the top brass are party to that information. Not even the Council are aware, wherever _they_ are. I shouldn't even be telling _you_. Besides, Hackett knows what he's doing."

The Admiral looked away and spoke into his comset.  
"Where's that air support?"  
He stared intensely at nothing in particular as the reply came back directly into his ear.  
"Damn!" Then he looked at Shepard and unexpectedly said,  
"So, what's on your mind, son?"  
Shepard knew it would only be a matter of time before the old man's intuition locked on, but damn that was fast.  
"Is it that obvious?"  
"To anyone else, probably not. To me, yes."

Shepard shook his head and gathered his thoughts.  
"Anderson, Sir, this is gonna sound insane, but hear me out. Despite what the Prothean VI, Vendetta, told us, I don't think the Reapers had anything to do with this. VI's are just advanced programming, they're not infallible. They can go rogue, remember EDI on the moon? They can be easily fooled, look at the ExoGeni VI. They can be _wrong!_ For all I know Cerberus could have reprogrammed Vendetta to feed us false information."  
"OK, point taken. Let's hear it."  
"It's been eating at me for a while now, but I can't think of any reason for the Reapers to bring the Citadel to Earth."  
Even Anderson didn't sound convinced at his own answer.  
"Intel, though sketchy, seems to think they're gathering resources for another human Reaper. And by resources, I mean live human specimens of course. Consensus is that they set up and are using this beam as a direct transport to the Citadel."

Shepard threw his hands up.  
"But that would take years! The Reapers are obviously aware of the Crucible, that they're in danger of being wiped out and they suddenly decide to start building a new one? It doesn't make sense. And if the Citadel can fabricate Reapers, what was the point of the Collector base? They could have just continued this cycle wiping out the other races one by one and leaving Earth till last, moved the Citadel here afterwards, _then_ harvested us at leisure without any interference from the other races."  
Anderson, arms crossed, nodded.  
"I'm listening. Carry on..."

Shepard did.

"If this is some kind of collection point then where are the Reaper ground forces? Not even a husk in sight? After we killed the lone Destroyer guarding the beam this place was practically undefended until Harbinger showed up. And _it_ had to pull away from battling Sword to get here. And as you well know, Sir, you don't send your best General to the heart of the battle. No, it's all too chaotic, too disorganized."  
The Admiral stroked his chin deep in thought as Harbinger's laser fired two beams high up the run in, preceding a distant explosion and signifying Hammer on the move again.  
"Well, now you mention it, it certainly isn't what we've come to expect from the Reapers. And Harbinger's presence here defending this beam smells to me of desperation. They definitely don't want us going in there, wherever it leads. Go on Shepard..."  
"And about this 'beam'? It's unlike anything I've ever encountered. Or heard about."  
"What about the conduit you went through on Ilos?"  
"Ilos had the beam, yes, but it also had a minature mass relay powering it. This thing is just...a beam...coming out of the ground. It doesn't fit in with anything from the last 3 years."

Shepard was done. He half turned and, as an afterthought, pointed at the strange, towering metallic structures,  
"And where the hell did these things come from?"  
Anderson could see logic in all he had said and asked,  
"Could Cerberus have anything to do with it? The Illusive Man?"  
"Doubtful, but I'm not ruling anything out just yet. And something tells me we haven't seen the last of _him_. My thinking is that the Reapers are just as confused and surprised by all this as we are, the Citadel moving here, this beam..."  
Anderson looked at him for a full 5 seconds then said,  
"OK Shepard, you've convinced me. Now, does this give us an advantage? Where do we go from here?"

Before Shepard could answer, a small group of Hammer unit foot soldiers had noisily arrived, 3 of them, all Privates. One of them had obviously designated himself leader and saluted at Anderson and Shepard while the other 2 squatted down and caught a breath.  
"Easy soldier." said Anderson softly, casually returning the salute. "How many of you were sent down?" he asked, and the laser fired again. The saluter dropped his hand to his side and replied through laboured breaths.  
"12...and a Mako Sir...we took the left flank...as ordered...but the Mako got wasted almost immediately...explosion took out a bunch of us...including the CO...hell...it's like fish in a barrel."

Anderson suppressed his dismay and slapped him on the shoulder.  
"Take a breather, men. Smoke if you got 'em."

(At this, one of the soldiers removed an armoured glove, opened the spare heatsink compartment in the left thigh of his armour and produced 2 cigarettes, one of which he handed to the saluter. They looked at each other, then around the other faces. A pause. Then,  
"Anyone got a light?"  
"No." Unanimous. Fredricks offered a solution,  
"Stick your hand out there, maybe the Reaper will light it for you?"  
The saluter smiled as he threw the cigarette to the floor, brought his boot down on it.  
"Trying to quit anyway." he lied, as Fredricks stifled a laugh.)

Having used the interruption to consider the situation Shepard turned to Anderson.  
"I'm going into that beam alone. We're not 100% sure it leads to the Citadel and we've lost too many good soldiers as it is. I'll try to contact you once I come out the other end. I need as many units as possible preventing any Reaper ground forces from following me through. Can't think of a better strategist than you Sir."  
Anderson nodded.  
"Your call, Shepard." He opened a channel. "Hammer unit, change of plan. The run in to the beam is a no-go, I don't want any more troops sent down."

(As he said this 5 more battered looking soldiers appeared, jogging from around the remnants of a flattened building. All Privates again, it was a bad night for CO's. They clambered up the rubble to the base of the tower, gave out over-enthusiastic salutes which Shepard and Anderson returned, the latter while still talking.)

"Remaining ground troops are to start patrolling the beam in a half kilometre radius. Target any Reaper ground forces, seek and destroy. Pair up, spread out, keep to cover and keep your distance from the Reaper guarding the beam, air strike imminent on that bastard. I want snipers to hole up in secure 90 degree vantage points with a clear line of sight to the beam. Grenadiers to take opportunity shots only if it won't give away your position. If we have any heavy ordnance left it is to be directed _only_ at the Reaper at the beam and _only_ once the air assault begins. Any Mako's we have left are to keep in sight of each other and provide mobile support areas, medical and equipment, so get stocked up. Again, keep out of sight of that Reaper. I want reports every 15 minutes, Anderson out."

Shepard leaned across to Anderson and whispered something. The Admiral nodded, then pointed into the group of soldiers as Harbinger let out another ground shaking snarl.  
He waited for it to subside. Then,  
"2nd Lieutenant Fredricks."  
"Huh?"  
"This man says you saved his life. Twice. That deserves some recognition. Pick yourself a Corporal."  
Surprised, and his morale instantly regenerated, Fredricks looked around his comrades.  
"Uhhh...you there, Kubrick. You're it." It was the saluter, and true to form, his fortitude boosted, he saluted Fredricks with a huge grin.  
"Sir!"

The morale of the remaining Privates was also elevated merely by them now having two more people to think for them and tell them what to do. And then, as if summoned by Harbinger to test their newfound courage, a crowd of screaming husks appeared from a tall rubble pile to the left. Fredricks spotted them first over Kubricks shoulder, he pointed and yelled,  
"_Incoming!_"

Knowing that husks were all but useless unless close up they all dropped to one knee, liberating their weapons on the way down, and began coolly and intelligently firing controlled bursts into the main mass. Though the ferocity of the husks was intense, (they were almost fighting each other as they made a swift beeline for Shepard and his group), they were dispatched fairly quickly and easily by the ranged weapons of the group, one of whom raised his fist victoriously.  
"YES!"  
Anderson brought him back down to Earth when he cautioned,  
"Those were just cannon fodder soldier, keep focused." To the whole group he calmly said,  
"Find whatever cover you can."

They all ducked and rolled into wherever they could hide themselves as the Marauders emerged. Some Marauders provided covering fire with limited accuracy as others advanced, scurrying into and out of cover in a flanking attempt. From behind a small vertical slab of of concrete Shepard reloaded his pistol and said sternly,  
"Heads down men. As before, controlled bursts."  
With perfect coordination they began firing in pairs, while dodging the return fire.

Barely audible over the noise of the firefight there was a sudden high pitched whine of engines followed by a sound like an ancient giant robot chewing concrete. Aware that the men behind the tower were now distracted by it's minions, Harbinger, attempting to finally rid itself of these tiresome irritations, was moving to get a clear shot at them. It floated almost silently as it skirted around the rightmost of the huge towers, performing a mid air quarter turn, and planted it's disproportionate metal limbs back on the ground with a crashing, quake inducing thud to the rear of the men. Anderson looked round at the jolt and saw with abject horror Harbinger 500 yards away but still looming over him. In complete awe he could only watch as the blood red laser chamber flared up. Convinced this war was over for them all he desperately roared into his comset,  
"_WHERE THE HELL IS MY AIR SUPPORT!"_

As he said it the sky behind Harbinger lit up as a barrage of explosions erupted from it's back. The laser chamber dimmed and the colossus rocked forward slightly from the force, let out a chilling metallic squeal of surprise, then began slowly manoeuvering itself to the right in an attempt to turn and face the new threat. The Volus bomber pilots were one step ahead, releasing their payloads then swooping hard left, the navigators constantly ensuring they stayed behind, and out of danger of, the laser. Anderson watched elatedly as from two different areas on the ground smoke trails appeared and painstakingly climbed diagonally, triangulating to a point on Harbinger's body and exploding with an enormous fireball. The shockwave elicited another unholy shriek from Harbinger and it's laser started going off seemingly in confusion.

Partially deafened and blinded but seeing a chance, Anderson rolled into Shepard's cover, and punched him hard on his back armour.  
"_Shepard, the beam! You have to go. NOW!_"

As Anderson took up a firing position at the few Marauders left, something in the gloom behind them simultaneously caught his eye and froze his blood. Coming towards them across the wasteland were three Banshees. Two Cannibals. Four Brutes. And dodging around them another hoard of husks. Shepard was also aware of them and was plugging away at the now final Marauder.  
"_Shepard, Harbinger's distracted and we won't get this opportunity again, now GET YOURSELF INTO THAT BEAM, THAT'S AN ORDER!"_

Dismally reluctant to leave Anderson and his new comrades in the situation they were in, but knowing the Admiral was right, Shepard was up and running. He rounded the tower and sprinted the few strides to the beam, diving the last 4 feet. As he entered it, and unlike the Ilos conduit, he sensed his every atom being torn apart and his world became black silence.


End file.
